Spanish Hospitality: How Costs and Trends Changed Since 2017
Five hundred weeks of the column “Un comino” reflect on a Spanish hospitality sector that faces a 45 percent increase in raw material costs and a 40 percent rise in dining out prices since March 2017.
Five Hundred Weeks of Change in Commerce and Cuisine
March 2017 marked the launch of both Jantour and the “Un comino” back-page column, coinciding with Donald Trump’s first two months in office and Theresa May’s initiation of the British Brexit process. The milestone of five hundred weekly installments spans a period of profound transformation for the gastronomy and commerce worlds, preceding the pandemic and the subsequent collective shift in consumer habits.
Back then, discussions around food futures focused on emerging trends like fermented products, maximum resource utilization, sustainability, and alcohol-free pairings. Concepts that were considered futuristic in 2017—such as extreme meat maturation, plant-forward menus, and prepaid restaurant reservations—now form the standard baseline of modern hospitality. Yet, structural changes in labor, commercial rents, and operating costs have radically reshaped the daily reality of running a bar or restaurant across the country.
Rising Costs Turn Dining Out into an Occasional Luxury
Financial pressures have significantly changed how the business operates over the past five hundred weeks.
Concurrently, the index for food and beverage services indicates that eating and drinking away from home now costs 40 percent more than it did in 2017. These steep increases have shifted everyday dining out into an occasional luxury for many local patrons, leaving hospitality business owners grappling with narrower profit margins. The traditional neighborhood bar has felt the brunt of this economic shift. Spain now counts 21,000 fewer bars than it did when the column first launched, even as the overall number of restaurants grows in major urban centers.
The Affordability Paradox in Gastronomic Tourism
High-end dining establishments face a distinct set of market dynamics compared to casual neighborhood spots. While Spain now boasts 306 restaurants with at least one Michelin star—up from 182 in 2017—the effort required for domestic citizens to access fine dining has increased by 20 to 50 percent.
This creates an affordability paradox. Spanish Michelin-starred houses remain between 15 and 30 percent cheaper than their counterparts in France, the United Kingdom, or Italy, making them highly attractive to foreign visitors. However, those same prices have grown increasingly difficult for local residents to afford. Addressing this widening gap between international tourist accessibility and local customer retention remains one of the primary unresolved challenges for the sector moving forward.